Celtic have still to announce who is involved in the backroom staff of Wilfried Nancy.
When the club announced the appointment of their new manager on December 3 all the big hitters were rolled out.
Following the quotes from Nancy we were treated to the wisdom of Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Dermot Desmond.
Nicholson thanked the outgoing management team of Martin, Shaun, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus.
NANCY AND BACKROOM STAFF
But not a word on Nancy’s assistants, his backroom team. It was no great secret, from the Columbus end of things the news came through. Kwame Ampadu, Jules Guefuen and Maxim Chalier were Glasgow-bound. They have been pictured at training, but not even the briefest of introductions on the Celtic website.
Two weeks on there is still no mention of Ampadu on the Celtic site. A veteran of English league football, a former Arsenal coach. Not a word.
Apparently Ampadu, who attended school in Dublin, is a long time Celtic fan. Not that you’d know about it if you visit the Celtic website.
Are the club ashamed of the coaching staff?
Are they waiting to announce the new goalkeeping coach before introducing Ampadu, Guefuen and Chalier?
Or are they waiting on the next management team before updating that page on the club website.
On December 4, BBC Scotland reported:
Wilfried Nancy will be joined in Glasgow by three members of his Columbus Crew backroom team as he takes over as Celtic manager.
Assistant Kwame Ampadu, assistant and fitness coach Jules Gueguen and video performance coach Maxim Chalier are all part of the new backroom staff at Parkhead.
Ampadu – father of Leeds and Wales midfielder Ethan – is a former Arsenal youth player who began his coaching career with Exeter.
Exeter. There we have it, the reason that Nancy is manager of Celtic.
CELTIC AND EXETER CITY
Who could have guessed that being Exeter youth coach from 2008 to 2012 would open the door to managing Celtic.
Paul Tisdale isn’t profiled on the Celtic website. There are four articles about the Head of Operations on the Celtic website.
Nancy doers of course have the full backing of the Celtic board but don’t ask him to sit alongside the new manager.
On December 5 the new manager was introduced. Firstly to broadcast media then daily newspapers then Sunday newspapers. Not fan media, not alongside the Celtic CEO, Chairman or the highly influential largest shareholder.
All three were on the statement announcing the appointment of Nancy but unavailable or unwilling to sit beside the manager and discuss his appointment. Not even for softball questions from Gerry Thunderbird McCulloch on Celtic TV.
NANCY COUNTDOWN
Nancy has been hampered from day one but there were 37 days between Brendan Rodgers resigning and his appointment. Plenty of opportunity to check things out, read the statement from Desmond, find out about how the Chairman conducted the AGM. Two weeks after his appointment Nancy’s Chairman has bailed out.
He chose to take on the job. On the back of two training sessions he introduced a brand new playing system at home to the SPFL Premiership leaders. After seven successive wins Nancy has taken Celtic to four defeats on the bounce. The worst run of results since 1978.
Under O’Neill, in seven matches Celtic lost two goals domestically, both from penalties awarded by Nick Walsh. In three domestic matches Nancy has goal difference of 2-8. St Mirren and Dundee United have a combined tally of six SPFL wins this season. They both beat Celtic.
Despite the Peter Martin tweet Nancy remains as manager, preparing to face Aberdeen on Sunday.
His only ally inside Celtic is Tisdale. After missing out on the chance of being associated with a Hampden trophy win the Football Doctor went on holiday.
On January 1 Lawwell will be off on holiday. Hopefully a permanent holiday.
It looks unlikely that Nancy will be staying around. Having him in the home dug-out on January 3 would be the ultimate act of self sabotage.
